I decided to continue my reading on American history with Dee Brown's classic about the plight of the American Indian. It was an amazing read, informative and engaging. At times, though, it was almost too effective--the entire book is written from the Indian perspective and the stories Brown tells are heartbreakingly tragic. Despite the fact that I already had some knowledge of the ways in which the Indians were mistreated I still found myself surprised and outraged at some of the episodes Brown related. I'd recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the American West, but be prepared for some heavy subject matter.

Started: 2006-02-23 | Finished: 2006-04-07

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I think what keeps bringing me back to this series--aside from the fact that I already own it--is the characterization. Hornblower is keenly aware of himself and the events of his life so, rather than each story standing alone, the echoes of all of his past adventures continue to be heard as he matures. You get to see how he grows. It's really great writing. Plus, you get to read lots of cool nautical terms like "sternsheets" and "mizzentop."

Started: 2006-02-12 | Finished: 2006-02-22

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Once, back in high school, my stepdad and I had a conversation about great American presidents. Like a lot of people, he thought quite a bit more of Thomas Jefferson than George Washington--in his words, Washington was "just a general." As much sense as that appraisal made at the time, it was ultimately unsatisfying because there must have been some reason that Washington was the first president instead of Jefferson, or other eminent politicians of the time like Madison or Adams. In fact, it is exactly this problem that is the central question of His Excellency. I found it to be an excellent read--informative and engaging while also being easy to absorb. Separating the man from the mythology that has grown up around him over the past two centuries is no mean feat, and Ellis does a good job of presenting him as a human figure. In addition to the subject of the book, I also found it interesting to see the biases that different historians have. Ellis presents Jefferson and John Adams and their respective parties in a very different light from the way Stephen Ambrose portrays them in Undaunted Courage and To America. Clearly, one writer can never give you a complete picture, but I'm starting to get to the point where I feel that the breadth of my reading is giving me a wide enough reference to read with a more critical eye.

Started: 2006-01-30 | Finished: 2006-02-07

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The eighth Hornblower book is a bit different from the others in that almost none of the story takes place on a ship. The book opens with Hornblower and his men in a French prison, and the bulk of the novel is concerned with his escape and his travels home. There's less action, but it turns out that instead of making the book boring this allows for a more character-driven story. I think by the end of Flying Colours I had a much clearer picture of Horatio Hornblower, the man, than ever before. I find that I feel toward him much the same way as one of the characters in this book--I can't help liking him, despite the fact that he's not very likeable. Three books are left and I'm looking forward to them.

Started: 2006-01-28 | Finished: 2006-01-29

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I'm feeling a little irritated with this book right now because I had intended on reading a biography of George Washington next, but because Ship of the Line ends with a cliffhanger I had to leave my copy of His Excellency on my nightstand and continue on with the next Hornblower novel. This one wasn't as good as the previous book, Beat to Quarters, but it managed to drag me in enough that I just had to know how things turned out after the events in the final scene.

Started: 2006-01-16 | Finished: 2006-01-28

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Gabriel García Márquez is a bit of an enigma to me. He's one of my favorite writers, but I end up loving his stories without really knowing why. There's an easy comparison between this book and Nabokov's Lolita: both of them are about an older man who obsesses over and falls in love with an adolescent girl. But, of course, this book's Argentinian setting makes it quite different in important ways; there's an entirely different sensibility to the characters. And while the relationship between the narrator and his Delgadina is certainly central to the plot, I'm not sure the story is really about that. It's much more about love than obsession or perversion, which also separates it from Nabokov's story. And when you get down to it, I think the story is much more about old age and nostalgia than it is about sex. Or maybe I'm just talking out of my ass. Whatever the book is truly commenting on, if anything, the prose is so wonderful that I almost don't care if I don't understand it.

Started: 2006-01-10 | Finished: 2006-01-11

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I first saw Army of Darkness in the 11th grade and I've been a fan of Bruce Campbell ever since. There's just something about his cocky, campy sense of humor that I really enjoy watching. And, as it turns out, I enjoy reading it, too. His writing style has this unusual combination of swagger and self-deprecation that made for a really fun read. I will say, though, that if you're not a fan, I don't think this book has much to offer you.

Started: 2005-12-01 | Finished: 2005-12-25

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Beat to Quarters is the sixth Hornblower book according to the chronology of the series, but it was the first one written. Surprisingly, I think it may be my favorite one so far. You'd expect that in a first book there'd be a lot of exposition, but Forester handles it very well, and by the end of this book I felt that I knew Horatio Hornblower much better than I had before. It was also interesting to see how Forester's style changed over time. For example, Beat to Quarters made a lot of references to the fact that certain actual historical events hadn't taken place yet--a device that I think was included to give a better sense of the period. Of course, by the later books, less time was spent on that sort of contextual help because people already knew what to expect. I think the action in this one was also more intense and interesting than in the previous books. By the end of the novel, I found myself really looking forward to the next one.

Started: 2005-12-27 | Finished: 2005-12-27

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I had a really hard time finding free moments in which to read this book, which was a real shame because it grabbed me from the start. When I finally got a chance to really sit and read it, I ended up staying awake until three in the morning to finish it. This was my first time reading Ishiguro and, despite what I had heard, I found his writing to be very accessible. More to the point, I found it to be beautiful, the sort of haunting beauty that is all the more powerful for its seeming simplicity. My one regret about the book is that the review that led me to read it gave too much away. I think the book would have been even more effective if I hadn't known the twist ahead of time. That's why I'm not going to tell you much about the story itself. (And, by the way, if you happen to follow the Barnes & Noble link above, don't read the School Library Journal review.) What I will say is that the blurb on the jacket cover is a bit deceptive--the book goes in a very different direction from the normal lit-fic stuff you'd expect. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that it's by such a recognized literary author, I imagine a lot of those snooty lit-fic readers out there would turn up their noses at it. Trust me, though, it's good.

Started: 2005-11-10 | Finished: 2005-11-27

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My wife and I have been having occasional friendly games of poker with a couple of our friends for a while now, but a couple of months ago I did well in a tournament that my friend's coworker hosted, and now it looks like I've caught the fever. This book stood out for me only because I've seen it mentioned so many times on Celebrity Poker Showdown. It's a fun read, but a little light in terms of substance. I did pick up a few basics in terms of probability and strategy, but a lot of the stuff I already knew. The real value of this book comes from it's amusing anecdotes, easy style, and, most of all, the recommendations for further reading.

Started: 2005-11-12 | Finished: 2005-11-27

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